Knowing how to do something is not the same as understanding how to teach someone else how to do it. As leaders, we often become very good at doing things that we have a very hard time explaining to the teams that work with us.

Great positioning is usually strengthened over time with adjustments in features.

trying to capitalize on hype without linking it to your product is a dangerous game.

“The most successful efforts in category creation do not result from company executives creating an acronym at an offsite. Rather they are discovered from deeply understanding a narrow set of customers. These customers are often ‘freaks,’ extreme in their attitudes and behavior, forged by tectonic technological and societal shifts. The category

Anyone who successfully defines a market can become its leader because the market was specifically designed that way. Once the market is created, it takes serious work to change it in the minds of customers. Companies that successfully create a category in the customers’ minds are well set up to lead it, not only in the short term but also in the

Often a category emerges when an enabling technology, a shift in customer preferences and a supporting ecosystem manage to come together at once.

You need to help the subsegment understand what’s in it for them if they do have those needs met. There should ideally be a way to quantify the value to them if they choose your solution over the market leader’s more generic solution.

The need of the subsegment must be clearly identifiable, but even when it is, your ability to meet it must be strong enough to convince buyers to go with you over the safer choice of the market leader.

From a marketing and sales perspective, smaller subsegments are easier to reach and target, and gaining traction in a market that is more homogeneous is generally easier.